Method of printing bleeder sheets



May 27, 1941- E. K. STEWART 21,243,175

METHOD 0F PRINTING BLEEDER SHEETS Filed Dec. l, 1939 m @DI m EigeneINVENToR.

S WM,

ATTORNEYS.

Patented May 27, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,243,175 METHOD oFPRINTING Bananen sunn'r's Eugene K. Stewart, Washington, D. C.

Application December 1, 1939, Serial No. 307,171

(Cl. lill-216) Claims.

This invention relates to a method of printing whereby it is possible toprint on a rotary press, publications including bleeder sheets, whichare sheets on which the printed matter is extended to the edges of thesheets.

While publications having bleeder sheets have been produced on flatpresses, it has not heretofore been possible to print sheets of thistype on rotary presses because top and bottom margins have necessarilybeen provided due to the fact that gaps must be left in the blanketcylinders to permit fastening of the blankets to the cylinders. marginsof a newspaper sheet or the like represents a loss which might otherwisebe covered should it be possible to sell this space for advertisingpurposes. In recognition of this fact attempts have been made to reducethe border space and, in some instances, attachments have been employedwhereby the side margins have been filled with printed matter. In everycase, however, it has been necessary to leave top and bottom marginsand, consequently it has not been possible to extend the printed matterup to the top and bottom edges as well as to the side edges of a page.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method whereby,without any changes in the construction of a rotary press and withoutthe addition of any attachment, the press can be utilized, during anordinary newspaper run, to produce one or more bleeder sheets without inany way disarranging the printed matter appearing on other pages of thepublication or interfering with the usual cutting and foldingoperations.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention resides incertain novel steps in the method hereinafter pointed out and in certainnovel details of construction whereby the method can be followed, itbeing understood that changes may be made in the method and in themechanism used without departing from the spirit of the invention asclaimed.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a view in diagram showing someof the printing units of a rotary press having impression means disposedthereonso as to produce a single bleeder page during the production ofthe other printed pages of the publication.

Obviously the unused space at the erence. I designates a section of apaper web which has been cut after printing so as to form four pages twoof which are shown in said figure. One of these pages, indicated at 2,vis provided with the usual top and bottom margins 3 and side margins 4.The other illustrated page has its printed matter extended to all fouredges of the page and comprises what is known as a bleeder page which isa page without margins. This bleeder page has been indicated at 5 inFigure 3.

Rotary presses include printing units each of which comprises animpression cylinder and a blanket cylinder between which the web W ofnews print is adapted to move. Each impression cylinder vis usuallyprovided with opposed duplicate stereotypes so that during each rotationof the cylinder each stereotype, which usually contains eight pages,will make an impression and two duplicate impressions of eight pageseach will be produced. Any desired number of impression and blanketcylinders can be located in the press and the paper web can be fedthereto in proper succession ,in order to print the desired number ofpages during a run. The opposed plates or stereotypes on each cylinderare of necessity spaced apart in order to provide clearances oppositethose points where the ends of the blankets are attached to the blanketcylinders.

In Figure 1 impression cylinders have been indicated at 6, 1 and 8 andassociated with each impression cylinder is a blanket cylinder 9, I0 andIl respectively, the gaps between the ends of the blankets beingindicated at I2 where said ends are attached to the cylinders.

For the purpose of producing a bleeder sheet as a part of thepublication, it is necessary to provide two impression cylinders forprinting the one sheet or page. The printing of the bleeder page iseiiected after the opposed side of the web W has` received impressionsfrom cylinder 6 on which the opposed spaced electrotypes are mounted inthe usual or any preferred manner and have been indicated at I3. 'I'hearrangement of the parts at I, 9 and I3 is the same as provided inordinary newspaper printing.

As before stated a bleeder page is produced by using two impressioncylinders, these being indicated at 1 and i. A negative is first made ofsuch size as to enable the production of a stereotype therefrom whichwill print up to all margins of the page to be produced. This negative.which is shown in Figure 4, is then cut transversely into three parts,namely, a main section a, a top section b and a bottom section c.stereotypes are cast from` the main section a and are placed ondiametrically opposed portions of cylinder 'l as shown in Figure 1 ata', these stereotypes being equally spaced and each being located whereit will print the middle portion only of one page of the series of pagesbeing produced during the rotation of the cylinder 1. In other wordsthese stereotypes a' will produce on the web an impression such as shownat in Figure 2 while other stereotypes on the same cylinder areproducing pages of text matter, etc., with the usual borders, a portionof one of which has been indicated at 2 in Figure 2. As the web Wtravels through the press the successive impressions 5 on the web willleave gaps I4 between them, each gap being intersected by the imaginaryline l5 along which the web is to be cut transversely to divide the webinto transverse series of sheets.

Following the formation of the stereotype from the main portion a of theplate, the top and bottom portions of the plate are assembled with thebottom portion c above and against the top portion b as shown in Figure5. stereotypes cast from these joined sections b and c are placed on theimpression cylinder l at diametrically opposed points and are so locatedthat as the web W on which the impressions 5 have been made passesbetween cylinders I and Il, the impressions from the stereotypes c'-b'4will be imparted to the web Win the gaps I 4 so that the portion b' ofeach stereotype will complete the upper portion of the bleeder pagewhile the portion c' of the stereotype will complete the lower portionof the next adjoining bleeder page. Thus when the web is cut along thelines Il by the usual means and the publication folded and otherwisecut, following the usual practice, the completed publication willcontain one page the printed matter on which will extend to all fouredges of the page.

For the purpose of extending the printed matter of the bleeder page tothe side margins of the page, -any of the means heretofore employed forthat purpose can be used.

Importance is attached to the fact that by following the method andutilizing the arrangement herein disclosed, a bleeder page can beprinted by means of a rotary press without requiring any unusualreadjustments of the press or the addition of any attachment.

Obviously if it is desired to utilize reading matter at the marginalportions of the printed bleeder page, the procedure already describedwill be followed with the exception that, instead of producing anegative plate, the bottom rows of set type will be placed above the toprows and a stereotype will be cast from the joined top and bottom rowsand another stereotype cast from the remaining or intermediate rows.

In Figure l a means for cutting the web into separate transverse sheetshas been indicated generaly at .'c.

What is claimed is:

1. In a rotary web press the combination with separate printing unitseach including a blanket cylinder having a gap and an impressioncylinder, of a printing plate secured to one of the impression cylindersand proportioned to print on a traveling web the middle section only oi'each of a series of duplicate pages, said plate being positioned toleave on the web between the printed portions and across the ends of theconnected pages an unprinted space which bridges the gap in the blanketcylinder of the unit, and a printing plate secured to the otherimpression cylinder and positioned to print in each of the unprintedspaces on the web the top and bottom portions of the respective pagesbordering the gap.

2. In a rotary press a means for printing bleeder sheets on acontinuously moving web comprising separate pairs of rolls eachincluding an impression cylinder, a blanket cylinder, and a blanketfastened at its ends in the blanket cylinder, a main printing plate onthe impression cylinder of one pair for printing regularly spaced areason one surface of the web thereby to provide gaps on the printed surfacewhere the web is engaged by the fastened end portions of the blanketcooperating with the plate, a printing plate on the other impressioncylinder positioned to print in the said gaps successively thereby toproduce a continuous printed area extending longitudinally of the web,and means for severing the web along lines bisecting the impressions inthe gaps thereby to provide bleeder sheets each having its central areaprinted from one of the main plates and its top and bottom areasproduced respectively by successive impressions from the other plate insuccessive gaps.

3. The method of printing bleeder sheets on a continuously moving paperweb, which includes the step of moving the web past a continuouslyrotating pair of circumferentially spaced main yplates to produce mainprinted impressions on one surface of the web with gaps therebetween,moving the printed portion of the web past a rotating pair ofcircumferentially spaced filler plates positioned to produce printedimpressions in said gaps on the webs extending to and registering withthe ends of the previously produced main impressions, and then severingthe web transversely to bisect the impressions in the gaps thereby toproduce bleeder sheets each having one end portion of Vits printedmatter impressed by one end of one of the filler plates, the other endportion of its printed matter impressed by the other end portion of theother filler plate, and the intermediate portion of its printed matterimpressed by one of the main plates.

4. 'Ihe method of printing bleeder sheets on a web while movingcontinuously between separate pairs of cylinders, each pair including animpression cylinder and a blanket cylinder, which includes the steps oftransferring from the impression cylinder of one pair to one side of theweb regularly spaced duplicate impressions each forming a part of acompleted whole. thereby to provide unprinted gap portions of the webfor er1- gagement by the end portions of the blanket on the blanketcylinder of said pair, thereafter printing from the impression cylinderof the other pair in all of the gaps to fill the gaps and join thepreviously printed area to produce a continuous unbroken printed surfaceon the web, and finally cutting the web transversely through theimpressions in the gaps thereby to produce duplicate bleeder sheets eachincluding an intermediate printed area formed by the first namedimpression, and printed top and bottom continuations of saidintermediate area consisting of portions of separate gap-llingimpressions, the edges of the cuts through the gap-lling areas formingedges of the bleeder sheets and of the printed matter thereon.

5. The method of printing bleeder sheets on one face of a web whilemoving continuously between separate pairs of cylinders, each pairincluding an impression cylinder and a blanket cylinder, which includesthe steps of printing regularly spaced duplicate impressions on onesurface of the web while passing between the cylinders of one pair,thereby to provide unprinted duplicate gaps between the impressions,thereafter printing regularly spaced duplicate impressions in the gapsto produce a continuous unbroken impression on one surface of the web,and nally cutting transversely through the impressions in the gaps todivide the web into duplicate bleeder sheets each having an impressionextending to all of its edges.

EUGENE K. STEWART.

